This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Sports are an immensely popular pastime the world over. They are played and enjoyed by the very young, the very old and everyone in between. Athletes range from casual backyard athletes to multi-million dollar professionals. A commonality across all sports and levels of play is that timing is important.
Accurate timing in sports is critical to improving in practice, ensuring fair play in casual and professional leagues alike, and generally creating the fun and competitive atmosphere that makes athletics so popular. Timing, however, can be very difficult to manage in sports. Without a dedicated official to keep time players must do it themselves. Management of timing without an official is both difficult and susceptible to cheating. A salient example is in pick-up American football games. These games often replace tackling with grabbing a flag or touching a player to render the ball carrier “down” and to stop the play. Games are typically played shorthanded, with limited or no blockers. As a result, players often institute a “no-rush” rule where the defensive players cannot cross the line of scrimmage and attempt to down the quarterback (known as rushing) without waiting a specified time to cross the line of scrimmage. The current common practice is for the defensive players to count aloud. However, this practice is prone to inaccuracies and dishonesty if a player intentionally counts too quickly. This practice often leads to arguments and bad feelings which can ruin an otherwise enjoyable game.
Even for athletes who have access to dedicated coaches and timekeeping officials, the need for a flexible timing device is significant. Serious athletes practice often. Many skills that athletes train in practice require complex timing. To use another football example, a receiver often practices timing on his or her routes. The receiver must often run for a certain time before changing direction and looking for a pass at a certain time after changing direction. The timing is critical as success of the quarterback depends on throwing the ball to an anticipated location of the receiver. Practicing such skills requires a coach to watch intently with a stopwatch and critique the receiver. This process can be too time-consuming for smaller programs or for receivers who are not likely to see much playing time. In addition to football, runners, basketball players, and soccer players, and the players of other sports frequently practice timed drills, for which it would be cumbersome to carry and watch their own time.
Accordingly, the present teachings seek to solve the problem of unreliable or unwieldy timing during many sporting events, practice situations, and other game activities.